A deeper dive into one of my favorite characters of the Morphic series!
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Morphic Character Analysis - The Tragedy of Mia Kerrigan
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Hello, readers! I'm @M0lot0v97, and this is my first entry into the Forum. Considering I first learned about the Dragonflycave through Dragonfree's Morphic story, I figured I'd start off with something relating to my favorite character. That being Mia Kerrigan! A character who I realized after rereading Morphic again recently- is much more tragic than I thought. Especially with the characters within the story claiming she was a lost cause from the start.
You may consider this to be a Character Analysis, or something akin to an "In Defense of" piece of writing. I just felt like writing this on account of Mia seemingly being one of the characters I can't help but want to hug. Provided that she allows me to, of course. I know she doesn't allow just anyone to do that.
Without further ado, please enjoy!
Content Warning: Contains mild swearing, talks of death, and politically sensitive topics such as abortion and religion. The purpose of this analysis is to talk about the tragedy of a character, not an open discussion on the sensitive topics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you know that between the 80’s and late 2000’s, thousands of Autistic children were misdiagnosed as Psychopaths/Sociopaths? Which is… honestly really sad to think about. I hope we did something about that. These days it’s commonly accepted that we cannot diagnose children with anti-social disorders due to the fact their minds are still in the process of developing. Though the brain will continuously develop as it gains more information as time passes, the brain will have finally finished maturing once a person reaches about 25 years old. Because of this lack of information, many people have been misdiagnosing fairly simple or explainable actions/words as signs of a highly disturbed mind. Especially in works of fiction. Though within the context of fiction, you may find that certain characters in fiction who are explicitly nonhuman are given supposeded “Psychopathic” or “Sociopathic” behaviors. Today, one example will be of a personal favorite of mine from the works of Dragonfree; the cold-minded Half-Scyther named Mia Kerrigan of Morphic.
For a quick background, Mia Kerrigan is a “Pokemorph” belonging to the world of Morphic. A story taking place in an Alternate Take on the Pokemon World, where it seeks to be closer to real-life. Such as Pokemon for the most part taking place of animals.* In this story, a team of Bio-engineers (The closest approximation for what the Scientists involved in the project are.) for Heywood Labs have created a set of eight children whose DNA is spliced with various Pokemon. The purpose mostly to see if it was possible to create them in the first place. However, they were not created with the intention of raising. More so to “dispose” of them once the testing phase completed. Due to political pushback from anti-abortion activists however, the scientists involved were coerced by Heywood Labs into raising them. Viewing it as cruel and unusual to birth humans only to then euthanize them due to “abnormalities” and “genetic defects” the scientists knew they would inherit. As a result, this team of scientists adopts one or two of the kids born from this experiment. With all the troubles that could and have come with it.
True to the research of Doctor Dave Ambrose, these children would all gain characteristics akin to the Pokemon they were spliced with. Such as their physical age either being further ahead or behind to their actual age. Or in the case of physical attributes such as useless wings or having petals as an example. To a degree, it would seem some characteristics personality-wise would show themselves as well. In the case of Mia Kerrigan, she would inherit the properties of a Scyther. Having green horns on her head, a similar color tone of hair color, blades that emerged from her forearms, wings that couldn’t support her weight, and a green exterior on her forelegs and feet. (Feel free to correct me if I am getting certain details wrong or if I missed something.) In the world of Morphic however, there are certain things to consider. Such as with the Scyther species itself. A species that has been described as being a cold, calculative, and ruthless. Having very little emotion in their actions and acting almost entirely on pure logic. That the species is psychopathic by nature and is only capable of understanding a point of view but not really caring about it. Seeing as such emotions would only “get in the way.”
The reason why this matters is due to how Mia displays herself vs how the world around her reacts to it. Chapter 4 is where we first learn of Mia, specifically through the words of Isaac Daniels. A Speaker from a Church that practices what appears to be a denomination of Christianity in the Pokemon World. Describing Pokemorphs as abominations in the eyes of God, and uses Mia as an example of “evil” by describing the time she attempted to attack two religious students attempting to preach to her. Later on, Katherine, a Roselia Pokemorph, would back up this claim. Albeit in a more angered tone due to being frustrated by a number of things. Her biology, her mother, and most of all Dave himself. We actually get to meet Mia herself in Chapter 5 as she is sitting alone during Free Time. What we learn is that she is seemingly asocial, preferring her own company rather than try to communicate with a student body that was afraid of her. Mia is aware that she is feared for one reason or another, and simply accepts it. Even if she can only understand on a limited sense. Even enjoying how others seemed to jerk their heads away upon her looking at them. That being said, Mia displays stoic detachment at how the more religious students take it upon themselves to remind her of a fact she was tired of hearing. That Mia was an “abomination onto God” and “had demons inside of her.
For Mia, this was normal. At least normal enough for Mia to automatically ignore them. Though Isaac and Katherine make it seem like Mia attempted to assault the students unprovoked, the story mentions that Mia has actually been assaulted by the religious girl talking down to her. The latter of whom was more violent in the previous year and even punched Mia while talking about the fires of Hell. Which may explain why Mia attacked to begin with. However, what bothered her the most was that she was either looked down or pitied upon by the pious. It’s made clear now that all Mia wants is to simply be left alone. Having to go to a school where many either despise her for existing or are simply afraid of her due to her biology. They continue to pester her despite showing signs that she was getting angrier. That being said, it’s not until they threaten to explicitly get her expelled from the school and claim she needs to be locked up away from the rest of “real people” that Mia tears at her leather sleeves for her blades. Though she does not get to hit anyone, this action was enough to get her sent to the principal’s office. What is definitely concerning behavior is pricking herself with her finger to taste her own blood however. Something she would have to be talked to about. In Dave’s failed conversation to plead her case however, Mia would not be allowed to return to the school.
Then there is the topic of Dave himself. Mia’s creator, and someone she is exceedingly fond of. Apart from her adoptive sister, Lucy, and parents; Dave is the only other person she seems to interact with on a regular basis. Mia Kerrigan possesses a very logical mind, and even at the age of 4 was “fucking brilliant”. While her mother, Cheryl, was worried that Mia was on the Autism Spectrum, Dave on the other hand was worried that Mia would lack concepts such as Empathy or Compassion. Mainly from how differently her brain processed information compared to Jean, who was the more emotional and creative of the two. Mia on the other hand simply views things as is, even if still having a childish view on some matters. Mia may be brilliant for her age but it was important to remember that she was still her age. (Something Dave himself could’ve remembered here and there but that’s not important right now.) What makes Dave important to Mia however is despite the fact she can tell that he’s afraid of her, he deliberately ignores this instinct and makes the effort to interact with her. Even if there is really nothing worth talking about. And if “Dave and Mia discuss Family” is anything to go off of- she seems to have a better relationship with him than her own parents.
Pointing this out is important because apart from the genuinely positive relationship she has with her sister, Mia has a strained relationship with just about everyone. Even if in Chapter 6, Dave has already subscribed to the idea that she’s a biologically defined sociopath. (Just for the record, a Psychopath and a Sociopath are two different things. While we don’t get much in terms of how Mia interacts with everyone else, at least not until the later chapters, we do at least know she’s the one everyone expects to go nuts. Chapter 7 admittedly doesn’t help her with her comment on how Brian’s blood following his death smelled “nice.” Commenting on how she thought she wanted to eat him. Considering the Pokemon DNA does indeed have an effect on actual behaviors of these Pokemorphs, it could be that Mia is reacting as a Scyther would. They are explicitly a Predator species that performs solo hunts. Mia consistently approaches certain situations and hypotheticals with an “absolute-matter-of-fact” mentality. Everything she is asked is met with either a straight answer, or an immediate question. Though her comment on Brian’s corpse was definitely questionable and morbid to hear suddenly, I am skeptical on the notion that Mia would actually eat him. Even if she could logically get away with it. Primarily for the fact that she said “I think” rather than “I want”. With how deliberate Mia’s word choices are and how she chose to wait until meeting Dave again to say this, it shows this is potentially a topic she isn’t sure of. Given how she at one point thought Dave would’ve made for a great World Leader in “Dave and Mia discuss Politics”, it’s clear she’s more comfortable telling him things she wouldn’t share with others.
Despite the claims that Mia is “so nonhuman” by her own father, Howard, to say Mia is nonhuman is simply untrue. Though it can be easy to say she’s disturbed, it’s simply that she processes information far differently. Such as in “Dave and Mia discuss Hotdogs”, which she cautiously analyzes every single photo Dave gives her to see if she can recognize emotion. A test that not only resulted in success but also yielded far more detailed descriptions of each photo he was not expecting to receive. A skill that would come in handy when Mia catches a glimpse of a Nutjob and was able to deduce that they were responsible for the recent death of Brian simply by recognizing facial patterns. In that very same scene, Dave would discover that Mia’s claims were correct. That Jacob Daniels, the one who was arrested, was merely someone who could take the fall for Isaac. In the next chapter, Mia agrees to come along on the mission to save Gabriel if she could fight the culprits. Later on, the group of Morphs would confess that Mia was not the only one with violent urges. Each member in some manner or another all had the same thoughts of violence, the need to act.
Despite their fears in wanting to sit next to Mia in the car, the group is ready at a moment’s notice to have her be the muscle of the group. Someone who could do what the others either couldn’t accomplish or didn’t have the nerve to accomplish. For her, being emotional simply opened the door to irrational thinking and hasty decision making. Something that could get them killed. For a comparison, think to the Vulcans in Star Trek. Most famously, Spock of The Enterprise. Despite being only half Vulcan, he approaches every situation from an exclusively logical point of view while leaving behind all emotion. He is not an evil character, nor are the Vulcans evil or ruthless as a result of this mentality. In the moments where they seem ruthless or cold, it doesn’t come from a heart of malice. They simply don’t factor emotion due to the belief that it gets in the way. Mia functions identically to this and why I have difficulty actually calling her a Psychopath. That would imply that she is heavily manipulative as well, which is simply not the case. From everything we’ve seen, Mia doesn’t seem capable of lying. Seeing as she can’t understand hypotheticals of when someone close to her would be deceitful.
Then comes Chapter 13 when the actual fight between the Pokemorphs and the Church of Holy Truth breaks out. Immediately after Will is shot and Jack retaliates with a Thunder Wave- Mia was covering from the back and quickly brought the fight to armed Nutjobs. Utilizing her abilities as a Half-Scyther, being able to quickly knocked down two of them, with one of them having their arm cut by her blade. Though Mia approached this fight with intent to kill after Will was mortally wounded, she didn’t actually perform a killing blow until one Nutjob tried to fire a shot at her. Until that point, she held back from doing lethal damage at the request of Jack. Though she did form a wild grin from slicing the throat of her assailant, one thing to remember is that within context, Mia killed someone who had attempted of opening fire upon a group of minors. The same group of people who had kidnapped a kid within their group with the intent of murder out of religious fanaticism. Unfortunately however, this would be where she meets her end. Joining the fate of Will and Katherine, Mia is shot in the head 3 times and is put down by Isaac. Who thoroughly enjoyed the act of doing so. Thankfully, Gabriel is able to arrive at the scene and ending the fight with the use of Flamethrower. This bringing the end to the conflict, and into a whole new problem for the group.
Due to their actions in trying to save Gabriel, this ultimately ends with the group and those involved under House Arrest for the forseeable future. This seemingly being as good of an ending as our party is going to get. In the aftermath, we would then see that each member has been mourned for. The most being Will due to his passive nature and being the most levelheaded of the group. For Mia however, many of these people had difficulty finding something nice to say. Even moreso by Mia and Lucy’s own mother, who admittedly was relieved in her death a slight bit. Meanwhile, Cheryl looked at Lucy with envy in realizing she unconditionally loved her sister and was furious with everyone who made Mia’s death sound like something to be relieved of. Something that has potentially permanently damaged how Lucy views her mother, as she now refuses physical displays of affection from her. Dave himself, though tried to pass off Mia’s death as something that they needed to get over, his drunken rant reveals that her death deeply disturbed him. Even Gabriel in “Gabriel and Jack discuss Death” reveals that though she scared him, she was a better person than anyone in the Church of Holy Truth. Ending it off with that everyone in the group was “fucked up.” The difference was that Mia never hid it.
With all this in mind, potentially part of the reason why the group was weirded out by Mia and even Lucy’s actions had been because they never tried repressing it. Every Pokemorph apart from that in some manner tried to repress their urges caused by their DNA. Whereas the Kerrigans never hid who they were and spent more time embracing their DNA and what it allowed them to do. Lucy was even potentially the first to discover she could use moves with her primitive version of Shadow Ball. Something Howard mentioned she would use on her sister so she could use her blades to break it. Never making excuses for their antics, nor pretending they were “normal” in the traditional sense. Because of this, I can’t really call Mia Kerrigan a psychopath in the truest sense. Especially when she only technically meets two of the necessary criteria.
We can see through the story, and especially in Chapter 9.5 that Mia is more than capable of emotion. Her brain is simply wired differently and she approaches everything from a point of pure logic. Despite her interest in horror films and documentaries on hunter animals, she also displays a surprising interest in a movie where true love conquers all. Down to the “sickeningly heartfelt end credits” as described by Dave. Going as far as stating that if anyone ever tried to killed Dave, she would hunt them down. Mia never once considers the possibility of dying immediately, nor that she could get shot immediately. Though it’s admittedly a childish perception with her believing she could take on any armed force they throw at her, Mia’s conviction is still true. Even the potential of death doesn’t deter her. To say Mia is devoid of emotion is simply not the case if someone she cares about were threatened. Even going as far as saying it would be to protect everyone.
The biggest piece of evidence is in the Alternate Ending called “Dave and Mia discuss Family”, which takes place in a version of Morphic where only Mia and Lucy are the only Pokemorphs left alive. Even Jean, Dave’s adoptive Vulpix daughter doesn’t survive. Rather than simply welcome back Dave after waking up- she seemingly gets frustrated at the notion that Dave isn’t working and that he won’t be able to afford food. Even though Dave isn’t concerned about food, Mia refuses to leave Dave alone at all. Coming to the conclusion that Dave is at his worst mental state regarding the recent death of his daughter on top of everything else he’s had to suffer from. Even eventually being convinced by her and Cheryl to allow the Kerrigan Pokemorphs to move in with him until he gets his life back in order. All because Mia flat out says that she likes him. How out of everyone, he’s the only one apart from Lucy who treats her like a normal human being, and considers her own feeling constantly. Effectively always being there for her and caring more than Howard did. Now wanting to return the favor for someone who was in essence her actual father. If that’s not a display of open affection, then I’m not sure what is.
Anywho, this should just about cover everything I've got to say thus far about this character. I understand that Morphic is written as a tragic tale, I just can't help but feel sorry for the characters involved. Many thanks to Dragonfree for making characters that I can remember fondly! And admittedly still wish they had a more hopeful ending. But hey, we all want our favorite characters to live peacefully! Thank you for getting this far. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!
You may consider this to be a Character Analysis, or something akin to an "In Defense of" piece of writing. I just felt like writing this on account of Mia seemingly being one of the characters I can't help but want to hug. Provided that she allows me to, of course. I know she doesn't allow just anyone to do that.
Without further ado, please enjoy!
Content Warning: Contains mild swearing, talks of death, and politically sensitive topics such as abortion and religion. The purpose of this analysis is to talk about the tragedy of a character, not an open discussion on the sensitive topics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you know that between the 80’s and late 2000’s, thousands of Autistic children were misdiagnosed as Psychopaths/Sociopaths? Which is… honestly really sad to think about. I hope we did something about that. These days it’s commonly accepted that we cannot diagnose children with anti-social disorders due to the fact their minds are still in the process of developing. Though the brain will continuously develop as it gains more information as time passes, the brain will have finally finished maturing once a person reaches about 25 years old. Because of this lack of information, many people have been misdiagnosing fairly simple or explainable actions/words as signs of a highly disturbed mind. Especially in works of fiction. Though within the context of fiction, you may find that certain characters in fiction who are explicitly nonhuman are given supposeded “Psychopathic” or “Sociopathic” behaviors. Today, one example will be of a personal favorite of mine from the works of Dragonfree; the cold-minded Half-Scyther named Mia Kerrigan of Morphic.
For a quick background, Mia Kerrigan is a “Pokemorph” belonging to the world of Morphic. A story taking place in an Alternate Take on the Pokemon World, where it seeks to be closer to real-life. Such as Pokemon for the most part taking place of animals.* In this story, a team of Bio-engineers (The closest approximation for what the Scientists involved in the project are.) for Heywood Labs have created a set of eight children whose DNA is spliced with various Pokemon. The purpose mostly to see if it was possible to create them in the first place. However, they were not created with the intention of raising. More so to “dispose” of them once the testing phase completed. Due to political pushback from anti-abortion activists however, the scientists involved were coerced by Heywood Labs into raising them. Viewing it as cruel and unusual to birth humans only to then euthanize them due to “abnormalities” and “genetic defects” the scientists knew they would inherit. As a result, this team of scientists adopts one or two of the kids born from this experiment. With all the troubles that could and have come with it.
True to the research of Doctor Dave Ambrose, these children would all gain characteristics akin to the Pokemon they were spliced with. Such as their physical age either being further ahead or behind to their actual age. Or in the case of physical attributes such as useless wings or having petals as an example. To a degree, it would seem some characteristics personality-wise would show themselves as well. In the case of Mia Kerrigan, she would inherit the properties of a Scyther. Having green horns on her head, a similar color tone of hair color, blades that emerged from her forearms, wings that couldn’t support her weight, and a green exterior on her forelegs and feet. (Feel free to correct me if I am getting certain details wrong or if I missed something.) In the world of Morphic however, there are certain things to consider. Such as with the Scyther species itself. A species that has been described as being a cold, calculative, and ruthless. Having very little emotion in their actions and acting almost entirely on pure logic. That the species is psychopathic by nature and is only capable of understanding a point of view but not really caring about it. Seeing as such emotions would only “get in the way.”
The reason why this matters is due to how Mia displays herself vs how the world around her reacts to it. Chapter 4 is where we first learn of Mia, specifically through the words of Isaac Daniels. A Speaker from a Church that practices what appears to be a denomination of Christianity in the Pokemon World. Describing Pokemorphs as abominations in the eyes of God, and uses Mia as an example of “evil” by describing the time she attempted to attack two religious students attempting to preach to her. Later on, Katherine, a Roselia Pokemorph, would back up this claim. Albeit in a more angered tone due to being frustrated by a number of things. Her biology, her mother, and most of all Dave himself. We actually get to meet Mia herself in Chapter 5 as she is sitting alone during Free Time. What we learn is that she is seemingly asocial, preferring her own company rather than try to communicate with a student body that was afraid of her. Mia is aware that she is feared for one reason or another, and simply accepts it. Even if she can only understand on a limited sense. Even enjoying how others seemed to jerk their heads away upon her looking at them. That being said, Mia displays stoic detachment at how the more religious students take it upon themselves to remind her of a fact she was tired of hearing. That Mia was an “abomination onto God” and “had demons inside of her.
For Mia, this was normal. At least normal enough for Mia to automatically ignore them. Though Isaac and Katherine make it seem like Mia attempted to assault the students unprovoked, the story mentions that Mia has actually been assaulted by the religious girl talking down to her. The latter of whom was more violent in the previous year and even punched Mia while talking about the fires of Hell. Which may explain why Mia attacked to begin with. However, what bothered her the most was that she was either looked down or pitied upon by the pious. It’s made clear now that all Mia wants is to simply be left alone. Having to go to a school where many either despise her for existing or are simply afraid of her due to her biology. They continue to pester her despite showing signs that she was getting angrier. That being said, it’s not until they threaten to explicitly get her expelled from the school and claim she needs to be locked up away from the rest of “real people” that Mia tears at her leather sleeves for her blades. Though she does not get to hit anyone, this action was enough to get her sent to the principal’s office. What is definitely concerning behavior is pricking herself with her finger to taste her own blood however. Something she would have to be talked to about. In Dave’s failed conversation to plead her case however, Mia would not be allowed to return to the school.
Then there is the topic of Dave himself. Mia’s creator, and someone she is exceedingly fond of. Apart from her adoptive sister, Lucy, and parents; Dave is the only other person she seems to interact with on a regular basis. Mia Kerrigan possesses a very logical mind, and even at the age of 4 was “fucking brilliant”. While her mother, Cheryl, was worried that Mia was on the Autism Spectrum, Dave on the other hand was worried that Mia would lack concepts such as Empathy or Compassion. Mainly from how differently her brain processed information compared to Jean, who was the more emotional and creative of the two. Mia on the other hand simply views things as is, even if still having a childish view on some matters. Mia may be brilliant for her age but it was important to remember that she was still her age. (Something Dave himself could’ve remembered here and there but that’s not important right now.) What makes Dave important to Mia however is despite the fact she can tell that he’s afraid of her, he deliberately ignores this instinct and makes the effort to interact with her. Even if there is really nothing worth talking about. And if “Dave and Mia discuss Family” is anything to go off of- she seems to have a better relationship with him than her own parents.
Pointing this out is important because apart from the genuinely positive relationship she has with her sister, Mia has a strained relationship with just about everyone. Even if in Chapter 6, Dave has already subscribed to the idea that she’s a biologically defined sociopath. (Just for the record, a Psychopath and a Sociopath are two different things. While we don’t get much in terms of how Mia interacts with everyone else, at least not until the later chapters, we do at least know she’s the one everyone expects to go nuts. Chapter 7 admittedly doesn’t help her with her comment on how Brian’s blood following his death smelled “nice.” Commenting on how she thought she wanted to eat him. Considering the Pokemon DNA does indeed have an effect on actual behaviors of these Pokemorphs, it could be that Mia is reacting as a Scyther would. They are explicitly a Predator species that performs solo hunts. Mia consistently approaches certain situations and hypotheticals with an “absolute-matter-of-fact” mentality. Everything she is asked is met with either a straight answer, or an immediate question. Though her comment on Brian’s corpse was definitely questionable and morbid to hear suddenly, I am skeptical on the notion that Mia would actually eat him. Even if she could logically get away with it. Primarily for the fact that she said “I think” rather than “I want”. With how deliberate Mia’s word choices are and how she chose to wait until meeting Dave again to say this, it shows this is potentially a topic she isn’t sure of. Given how she at one point thought Dave would’ve made for a great World Leader in “Dave and Mia discuss Politics”, it’s clear she’s more comfortable telling him things she wouldn’t share with others.
Despite the claims that Mia is “so nonhuman” by her own father, Howard, to say Mia is nonhuman is simply untrue. Though it can be easy to say she’s disturbed, it’s simply that she processes information far differently. Such as in “Dave and Mia discuss Hotdogs”, which she cautiously analyzes every single photo Dave gives her to see if she can recognize emotion. A test that not only resulted in success but also yielded far more detailed descriptions of each photo he was not expecting to receive. A skill that would come in handy when Mia catches a glimpse of a Nutjob and was able to deduce that they were responsible for the recent death of Brian simply by recognizing facial patterns. In that very same scene, Dave would discover that Mia’s claims were correct. That Jacob Daniels, the one who was arrested, was merely someone who could take the fall for Isaac. In the next chapter, Mia agrees to come along on the mission to save Gabriel if she could fight the culprits. Later on, the group of Morphs would confess that Mia was not the only one with violent urges. Each member in some manner or another all had the same thoughts of violence, the need to act.
Despite their fears in wanting to sit next to Mia in the car, the group is ready at a moment’s notice to have her be the muscle of the group. Someone who could do what the others either couldn’t accomplish or didn’t have the nerve to accomplish. For her, being emotional simply opened the door to irrational thinking and hasty decision making. Something that could get them killed. For a comparison, think to the Vulcans in Star Trek. Most famously, Spock of The Enterprise. Despite being only half Vulcan, he approaches every situation from an exclusively logical point of view while leaving behind all emotion. He is not an evil character, nor are the Vulcans evil or ruthless as a result of this mentality. In the moments where they seem ruthless or cold, it doesn’t come from a heart of malice. They simply don’t factor emotion due to the belief that it gets in the way. Mia functions identically to this and why I have difficulty actually calling her a Psychopath. That would imply that she is heavily manipulative as well, which is simply not the case. From everything we’ve seen, Mia doesn’t seem capable of lying. Seeing as she can’t understand hypotheticals of when someone close to her would be deceitful.
Then comes Chapter 13 when the actual fight between the Pokemorphs and the Church of Holy Truth breaks out. Immediately after Will is shot and Jack retaliates with a Thunder Wave- Mia was covering from the back and quickly brought the fight to armed Nutjobs. Utilizing her abilities as a Half-Scyther, being able to quickly knocked down two of them, with one of them having their arm cut by her blade. Though Mia approached this fight with intent to kill after Will was mortally wounded, she didn’t actually perform a killing blow until one Nutjob tried to fire a shot at her. Until that point, she held back from doing lethal damage at the request of Jack. Though she did form a wild grin from slicing the throat of her assailant, one thing to remember is that within context, Mia killed someone who had attempted of opening fire upon a group of minors. The same group of people who had kidnapped a kid within their group with the intent of murder out of religious fanaticism. Unfortunately however, this would be where she meets her end. Joining the fate of Will and Katherine, Mia is shot in the head 3 times and is put down by Isaac. Who thoroughly enjoyed the act of doing so. Thankfully, Gabriel is able to arrive at the scene and ending the fight with the use of Flamethrower. This bringing the end to the conflict, and into a whole new problem for the group.
Due to their actions in trying to save Gabriel, this ultimately ends with the group and those involved under House Arrest for the forseeable future. This seemingly being as good of an ending as our party is going to get. In the aftermath, we would then see that each member has been mourned for. The most being Will due to his passive nature and being the most levelheaded of the group. For Mia however, many of these people had difficulty finding something nice to say. Even moreso by Mia and Lucy’s own mother, who admittedly was relieved in her death a slight bit. Meanwhile, Cheryl looked at Lucy with envy in realizing she unconditionally loved her sister and was furious with everyone who made Mia’s death sound like something to be relieved of. Something that has potentially permanently damaged how Lucy views her mother, as she now refuses physical displays of affection from her. Dave himself, though tried to pass off Mia’s death as something that they needed to get over, his drunken rant reveals that her death deeply disturbed him. Even Gabriel in “Gabriel and Jack discuss Death” reveals that though she scared him, she was a better person than anyone in the Church of Holy Truth. Ending it off with that everyone in the group was “fucked up.” The difference was that Mia never hid it.
With all this in mind, potentially part of the reason why the group was weirded out by Mia and even Lucy’s actions had been because they never tried repressing it. Every Pokemorph apart from that in some manner tried to repress their urges caused by their DNA. Whereas the Kerrigans never hid who they were and spent more time embracing their DNA and what it allowed them to do. Lucy was even potentially the first to discover she could use moves with her primitive version of Shadow Ball. Something Howard mentioned she would use on her sister so she could use her blades to break it. Never making excuses for their antics, nor pretending they were “normal” in the traditional sense. Because of this, I can’t really call Mia Kerrigan a psychopath in the truest sense. Especially when she only technically meets two of the necessary criteria.
We can see through the story, and especially in Chapter 9.5 that Mia is more than capable of emotion. Her brain is simply wired differently and she approaches everything from a point of pure logic. Despite her interest in horror films and documentaries on hunter animals, she also displays a surprising interest in a movie where true love conquers all. Down to the “sickeningly heartfelt end credits” as described by Dave. Going as far as stating that if anyone ever tried to killed Dave, she would hunt them down. Mia never once considers the possibility of dying immediately, nor that she could get shot immediately. Though it’s admittedly a childish perception with her believing she could take on any armed force they throw at her, Mia’s conviction is still true. Even the potential of death doesn’t deter her. To say Mia is devoid of emotion is simply not the case if someone she cares about were threatened. Even going as far as saying it would be to protect everyone.
The biggest piece of evidence is in the Alternate Ending called “Dave and Mia discuss Family”, which takes place in a version of Morphic where only Mia and Lucy are the only Pokemorphs left alive. Even Jean, Dave’s adoptive Vulpix daughter doesn’t survive. Rather than simply welcome back Dave after waking up- she seemingly gets frustrated at the notion that Dave isn’t working and that he won’t be able to afford food. Even though Dave isn’t concerned about food, Mia refuses to leave Dave alone at all. Coming to the conclusion that Dave is at his worst mental state regarding the recent death of his daughter on top of everything else he’s had to suffer from. Even eventually being convinced by her and Cheryl to allow the Kerrigan Pokemorphs to move in with him until he gets his life back in order. All because Mia flat out says that she likes him. How out of everyone, he’s the only one apart from Lucy who treats her like a normal human being, and considers her own feeling constantly. Effectively always being there for her and caring more than Howard did. Now wanting to return the favor for someone who was in essence her actual father. If that’s not a display of open affection, then I’m not sure what is.
Anywho, this should just about cover everything I've got to say thus far about this character. I understand that Morphic is written as a tragic tale, I just can't help but feel sorry for the characters involved. Many thanks to Dragonfree for making characters that I can remember fondly! And admittedly still wish they had a more hopeful ending. But hey, we all want our favorite characters to live peacefully! Thank you for getting this far. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!
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